Red Clay
Whitfield County GA
on the border of Bradley County TN
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In 1832 things were looking grim for the Cherokee nation. Stripped of their rights in the state of Georgia, members of the tribe moved their seat of government from New Echota in northwest Georgia to Red Clay, just across the Tennessee state line. But Red Clay would not be the Cherokee capital for long. Only six years later the tribe would be sent west on a journey we now know as the Trail of Tears. The Red Clay grounds in Tennessee are now a state historic park.
By 1832 the
Georgia legislature had taken away all Cherokee legal rights, stolen the
Cherokees land and made it illegal for Cherokees to hold political meetings. At
that point the tribe moved its capital to a site just north of the
Tennessee/Georgia state line (during this era, individual states had far more
power than they do today). There was a spring on the site called Blue Hole
Spring that is still there today. There were no structures there, so a council
house and a few cabins were hastily built.
A council was a time when the Cherokee people came together to meet and for their leaders to discuss things important to the tribe. Councils generally lasted between two weeks and a month. The Cherokee had 11 separate councils here between 1832 and 1838. Although young children might had fun at these councils, these were desperate times for the Cherokee people. In spite of President Jackson's insistence that they would have to leave, the Cherokee people still held out hope that John Ross would be able to work out a deal under which they could stay. The Cherokee people had a good legal case, since the U.S. Supreme Court under John Marshall had ruled that the 1830 Indian Removal Act was unconstitutional. In the fall of 1838 the U.S. Army began forcing Indians into staging camps near the Tennessee River. From there some went downriver on boats, while others marched northwest. Today we estimate that 4,000 of the 15,000 Cherokees died either along the way or in the holding camps, which is why we refer to it as the Trail of Tears. The trip was especially hard on the elderly and young children. Those who died were usually buried in unmarked graves which are now all over Tennessee and Arkansas
During the War Between the States, on May 2, 1864, the 2nd Brigade, First Cavalry Division, Dept. of the Cumberland, U. S. Army, after a hard fight drove the Confederates from this town. It then became an important depot of supplies for Federal forces. A heavy force of Federals guarded this town to prevent Confederate raids from capturing valuable stores here. The Federal Army of Ohio, moving South toward Dalton passed through this town.
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This page was last updated on -03/17/2024
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